


Wanna Be My Geek?

by respoftw



Series: 30 prompt OTP challenge - McShep [7]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 14:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9825383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: John wants only the best for his team.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #7: Offworld mission

"You've been with the program for _how_ long and you're telling me you've never been off-world?"

Rodney had the feeling he was being set up for some sort of punchline. He just hoped it wouldn't involve _actual_ punching. Major Sheppard was the de facto leader of the military on Atlantis now and, while he had seemed pleasant enough, Rodney couldn't help but remember just how readily he had agreed to shoot him earlier that week.

"I'm off-world right now," Rodney sniped back. "Or hadn't you noticed the distinct lack of Starbucks?"

Sheppard snorted a laugh that Rodney could almost swear was real. It confused him even more. He wasn't funny. No one thought he was funny. What was Sheppard's game?

"Yeah, but what about on a Gate Team?" Sheppard continued.  "Don't tell me that you never wanted to get out there and explore? Making the discoveries has got to be more interesting than just examining them afterwards."

Rodney bristled. It seemed like Sheppard's game was to hone in on his own self-doubt and inadequacies. Rodney had begged to be allowed to join a Gate Team back on Earth but his reputation - and Carter's bad mouthing of him - had put paid to that.

"I'm far too valuable to risk off-world." The usual answer. Maybe if he said it enough times, he'd begin to believe it. "There's no one else here who can do what I do."

Sheppard surprised him by agreeing rather than scoffing. "You're the best," he stated, like it was an undeniable fact. It _was_ , of course. It's just that Rodney wasn't used to other people admitting that. "All the more reason to join. I only want the best on my team."

Rodney's mouth dropped open. He hadn't seen that coming. There was still the possibility that this was all an elaborate prank but something in the Major's words rang true. Rodney didn't know what to make of that. He shook his head, dismissing the possibility and hope that things were about to change for him.

"You don't want me," he said. "I know you're new to the SGC but ask around, Major. I don't play well with others."

Sheppard looked at him intently enough that it made Rodney feel curiously itchy. His mouth ticked up in a smirk as he leaned against the wall of the room Rodney had chosen as his main lab. He started to tick off traits on his fingers.  "Arrogant, petty and convinced of his own self-importance. Dr. McKay may be able to back those traits up with a considerable, almost unparalleled talent but he would never be my first choice for anything. He's not someone that I would count on to save anybody's skin but his own." The words sounded so much worse coming from Sheppard's mouth than they had looked written down in the page of his last SGC review.

"So, you see why you'd be better off with someone else." Rodney had a lot of practice at hiding the pain that others opinion of him caused. His voice didn't even shake anymore.  It hadn't since he was sent to Siberia.

Sheppard pushed off from the wall and stepped towards the table that Rodney was busy setting up.  He started to recite another report. "Arrogant and undisciplined, Major John Sheppard is a disgrace to the United States Airforce. His complete lack of respect towards his superiors is only matched by my lack of respect towards him and his actions. Major Sheppard is wholly unsuited for command and, in this commander's opinion, wholly unsuited to wear a uniform."

Sheppard shrugged as Rodney stared across the table at him. "The SGC knew this was more than likely a one way trip. We all have reports like that in our file. Difference is, I don't believe mine."

Rodney opened his mouth to protest that, of course, he didn't believe his. Except the words dried up in his throat because, really, wasn't it true? There was always that little part of him that feared that every low opinion of him was right. He _was_ arrogant. He _was_ petty. Maybe he was all of those other things too.

Sheppard - _John_ \- shook his head as if Rodney had spoken out loud, his own silence damning him. "And," he said, "I don't believe yours either. The man in that report is not the type of man who would have walked into that energy cloud, not knowing what would happen. _He's_ the type of man that I would be honoured to have on my team." John smiled at him. "What do you say, McKay? Wanna be my geek?"

Rodney wanted to be that man that John saw. Maybe he could be. Maybe he already was.

 


End file.
